Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It seems like Juneau strives to be the complete antithesis of Anchorage. Enroute to Mendenhall Glacier our bus driver spoke so proudly about the city of Juneau and just ripped Anchorage a new one any chance he got. Actually most locals I conversed with seemed to have the same sentiment; perhaps stemming from the constant battle over where the state capitol should reside. Now that I've been to both cities I'd say that I'd rather live in Juneau if I'm looking for the outdoorsy Pacific Northwest lifestyle. If I wanted the overcrowded, drug-laden type of town with inner-city problems then there's no need to move to Anchorage - I can probably find plenty of that in California :)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

We spent Day 2 at sea enroute to our first port stop in Ketchikan, AK. To really get the most out of the cruise experience you must participate in all the on-board activities that you might not normally do - bingo, shuffleboard, sign up for gameshows and karaoke contests... It's entertaining for a week but I have no idea how my parents can thoroughly enjoy 1-2 month-long cruises!

I attended this "How To Use Your Point & Shoot Camera" talk so I could participate in the raffle for prizes. If you stuff the box with a dozen entries you're bound to win right?

This was a spoof of the NBC gameshow Minute To Win It

The sunset looked so different each day.

Day 3 - docked in Ketchikan, AK

awe yeah...

Someone's ridiculous attempt at collecting money in front of their own house

I am going to guess that this is the only business in the world where you can get your shoes and vacuum repaired at the same time while eating fudge.

This was the last time boards got shuffled on this trip as all the discs seemed to have made their way overboard.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

We boarded a flight to Seattle to embark on a 7-day roundtrip cruise through Alaska's inner passage. In practical terms this meant a 7-day disconnect from the Internet; a chance to finally relax in year 2010; and most importantly - eat with reckless abandon.

Here are some highlights from Day 1:

I loved the colors on this wall in the baggage claim area at SEA-TAC airport

last view of Puget Sound before embarking

I wondered if the lifeboats have ever been used on this 20-year old vessel

the Aqua Restaurant onboard the ship had interesting LED lights shining through the ceiling tiles

the food options were essentially endless on this cruise ship - not the right place to be at all if you're on a diet

view from the 12th floor down the ship into the main atrium where live music played nightly